• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

What were the chief factors that led to the urban and rural revolts of the fourteenth century?

What were the causes of the Hundred Years’ War, and what were the results of the war in the fourteenth century for France and England?

What impact did the adversities of the fourteenth century have on Christian practices?

Key Terms

Black Death

pogroms

scutage

Third Estate

condottieri

Great Schism

conciliarism

mysticism

Modern Devotion

Suggestions for Further Reading

GENERAL WORKS For a general introduction to the fourteenth century, see D. P. Waley and P. Denley, Later Medieval Europe, 3rd ed. (London, 2001); G. Holmes, Europe: Hierarchy and Revolt, 1320–1450, 2nd ed. (New York, 2000); and J. Aberth, From the Brink of the Apocalypse: Confronting Famine, War, Plague, and Death in the Later Middle Ages (London, 2001).

THE BLACK DEATH On famine in the early fourteenth century, see W. C. Jordan, The Great Famine: Northern Europe in the Early Fourteenth Century (Princeton, N.J., 1996). On the Black Death, see P. Ziegler, The Black Death (New York, 1969); D. Herlihy, The Black Death and the Transformation of the West, ed. S. K. Cohn Jr. (Cambridge, Mass., 1997); and J. Kelly, The Great Mortality (New York, 2005).

HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR Good accounts of the Hundred Years’ War include A. Curry, The Hundred Years’ War, 2nd ed. (New York, 2004), and R. H. Neillands, The Hundred Years’ War, 2nd ed. (New York, 2001). On Joan of Arc, see M. Warner, Joan of Arc: The Image of Female Heroism (New York, 1981).

POLITICAL HISTORY On the political history of the period, see B. Guenée, States and Rulers in Later Medieval Europe, trans. J. Vale (Oxford, 1985). On medieval mercenaries, see W. Urban, Medieval Mercenaries (London, 2006).

CATHOLIC CHURCH A good general study of the church in the fourteenth century can be found in F. P. Oakley, The Western Church in the Later Middle Ages (Ithaca, N.Y., 1980). On the role of food in the spiritual practices of medieval women, see C. W. Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women (Berkeley, Calif., 1987). On female mystics in the Later Middle Ages, see D. Elliott, Proving Woman: A Female Spirituality and Inquisitorial Culture in the Later Middle Ages (Princeton, N.J., 2004). On late medieval religious practices, see R. N. Swanson, Religion and Devotion in Europe, c. 1215–1515 (Cambridge, 1995).

CULTURE A classic work on the life and thought of the Later Middle Ages is J. Huizinga, The Autumn of the Middle Ages, trans. R. J. Payton and U. Mammitzsch (Chicago, 1996). On Dante, see B. Reynolds, Dante: The Poet, the Political Thinker, the Man (London, 2006). On Chaucer, see J. Dillon, Geoffrey Chaucer (New York, 1993). The best work on Christine de Pizan is by C. C. Willard, Christine de Pizan: Her Life and Works (New York, 1984).

SOCIAL HISTORY A wealth of material on everyday life is provided in the second volume of A History of Private Life, edited by G. Duby, Revelations of the Medieval World (Cambridge, Mass., 1988). On women in the Later Middle Ages, see S. Shahar, The Fourth Estate: A History of Women in the Middle Ages, trans.C. Galai, rev. ed. (London, 2003). On childhood, see N. Orme, Medieval Children (New Haven, Conn., 2001). The subject of medieval prostitution is examined in L. L. Otis, Prostitution in Medieval Society (Chicago, 1987). Poor people are discussed in M. Mollat, The Poor in the Middle Ages (New Haven, Conn., 1986). For a general introduction to the changes in medicine, see N. G. Siraisi, Medieval and Early Renaissance Medicine (Chicago, 1990). The importance of inventions is discussed in J. Gimpel, The Medieval Machine (New York, 1976).

* * *

Visit the CourseMate website at www.cengagebrain.com for additional study tools and review materials for this chapter.

* * *

CHAPTER 12

Recovery and Rebirth: The Age of the Renaissance

Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam on the Sistine Chapel ceiling

Sistine Chapel, Vatican Palace//© Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY

* * *

CHAPTER OUTLINE AND FOCUS QUESTIONS